1989


KONICA KANPAI - 1989.  Konica’s Kanpai was the world's first voice activated camera and would automatically swivel on its built-in tripod to take snapshots wherever it heard a burst of sound like laughter or cheers. The original 1989 model was red, later models were black.   "Products to Watch," Fortune.  Mar. 25, 1991.

 

MACINTOSH PROFESSIONAL IMAGE PROGRAM - 1989.  Letraset released Color Studio 1.0, the first professional image manipulation program for Macintosh computers.

http://www4.smart.net/~affcom2/capla/99_jan_stories.htm

Nintendo Game Boy - 1989. Model DMG-01, the first Game Boy was released in 1989.

PCMCIA - 1989.   Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, an international standards body founded to establish standards for Integrated circuit cards and to promote interchangeability among mobile computers. http://www.pcmcia.org/about.htm

SANYO STILLVISION SVC-05 - 1989.   Prototype electronic still camera.  390K CCD.  Programmed auto-exposure, auto-flash, auto white balance, Shutter speed up to 1/2500 second.  MSRP $800.  Click on image for enlarged view.  Popular Photography, March 1989, p53.
 

SONY DIH 2000 DIGITAL IMAGE HANDLER – 1989.  The DIH2000 could capture single frame images from any video source, motion or still video cameras, and transmit them over standard phone lines in as little as ten seconds.  Sony won a special Emmy Award, “Still-Picture Transmission Technology for News,” honoring Sony for its development of still-picture transmission capabilities, particularly as it related to the 1989 student uprising in China.  During the demonstrations the Chinese government blocked the transmission of live video.  News networks were forced to send their video tapes to Hong Kong for transmission thereby delaying their broadcasts by more than twelve hours.  CCN sent a crew into the field using a Sony Mavica still-video recording system and sent their images over the Chinese telephone system to CNN's U.S. studios.  CNN delivered images to its audience many hours ahead of the competition.  Effects of those still images on American and European audiences was electrifying.  “The Day The Image Stood Still,” Paul Saffo, Personal Computing,  February 1990, p59.  Digital Photography: Pictures of Tomorrow, John Larish, 1992,  p4, p141.

The DIH 2000 and Sony still video camera (ProMavica MVC-5000) were also used during the Persian Gulf War by the U.S. Army to transmit photos to the Army Media Services Branch in Washington, D.C.

SONY ProMavica MVC-5000 - 1989.  The Sony ProMavica MVC-5000 (MAVICA = Magnetic Video Camera) still-video camera.  The MVC-5000 was the first to transmit almost instantaneous still color images over phone lines using Sony DIH2000 noted above and was the camera used by the CNN crew in China to transmit the Tienemen Square images. The ProMavica recorded images as magnetic impulses on a compact 2-inch still-video floppy disk.  The images were captured on the disk by using two CCD (charge-coupled device) chips.  One chip stored luminance information, and the other separately recorded the chrominance information.  This camera provided a 720,000-pixel image. The images could be stored on the floppy disk either in Frame or Field mode.  When Frame was selected, each picture was recorded on two tracks and up to 25 images could be recorded on each disk.  When Field was selected, each picture was recorded on only one track, allowing up to 50 images to be recorded.  When recorded in the Field mode, images were less detailed as compared to images recorded in the two-track Frame mode.  The MVC-5000 was considered to be the leader in image quality during its time.  The MVC-5000 recorded still video hi-band resolution at 500 TV lines versus the standard 360 lines of most other still video cameras of that period. Images could be shown on a TV by using the Sony MVR-5500A shown below.   MSRP $10,000.  “Electronic Still Video,” Folio, 1 February 1991, p75.  Digital Photography, Mikkel Aaland, 1992, p17.
http://www.drtomorrow.com/lessons/lessons1/03.html
http://www.home.eznet.net/~fshippey/newmedia/nm_dcam.pdf

Sony MVR-5500A

FUJI DS-X - 1989.   Memory card camera.  2/3-inch 400K CCD.  15mm f/3.5 lens.  Shutter 1/30 to 1/500 second.  Built-in flash.  $20,000 for complete system, including player and DAT electronic picture file.  Understanding Electronic Photography, John J. Larish, 1990, p46.  Popular Photography.  December 1991.  Page 111.
http://www.wan-in-black.com/digi_camb/chro_t.htm

TOSHIBA IMC-100 – 1989.  Similar to the Fuji DS-X above (cameras were jointly developed by Toshiba and Fuji). 2/3-inch 400K pixel CCD, prototype still digital memory card camera.  Images were captured on a credit-card-sized removable memory card. Auto white balance, built-in flash, built-in macro, 5 images per second burst.  Used IC-18s-18MB memory card with six-image capacity in high resolution mode.  Continous shooting up to five frames per second.  Understanding Electronic Photography, John J. Larish, 1990, p47.

TOSHIBA IC-100 – 1989.  Images were captured on a credit-card-sized removable memory card. The card held up to thirteen images and could be transferred to Toshiba's digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. Up to to 1,600 photos could be stored on one 120-minute DAT cassette tape. Popular Science, December 1989. Photo provided by Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia.   http://www.youtube.com/user/JeepersMedia

VIVITAR - 1989.  Still video camera prototype.  Images recorded to floppy disk.  360K CCD.  Selectable 9mm f/2 or 16mm f/2.5 lens.  Auto-white balance and built-in flash. Understanding Electronic Photography, John J. Larish, 1990, p42. (Photo not available)

1989